we were admonished by Will that the first dozen trimmers ought to be looked at, and that he had seen one of the rollers-he thought No. 4,— in the middle of the river. Will has an eye like a pike, though deaf as a post, and is another instance of the extraordinary manner in which nature makes up for the loss of any one of our senses, by the additional quickness and increased power with which she endows the others. Thus, when four of us have been in the boat taking up the trimmers at dusk, I have seen Will Fish from the stern spy out a roller which had been sunk in deep water when we had all missed it, and which we could scarce discern when he pointed it out. We took the hint, packed up the remainder of our victualling stores, and embarked. We found a pike at No. 4, and a good one too, being thirty inches in length and weighing sixteen ponnds; but he was the only one at the first dozen. Now I always expected we should have him, for twice as I passed near the reed-bed where he lay, during the first fortnight of September, I had seen him strike, and almost longed to lay down my gun and put in four trimmers, hard by, lest some one else should pop upon him. The next lot were more productive, but the fish were nothing like so good in quality as the first, nor did we find his equal during the day. The lines on the shallows had done nothing, which was the case also with the last dozen. We now held a consultation whether or not we should take up our trimmers and go two miles further up the river; and had we not known of old, that the water we had began to fish was the best part of the river, we should have done so without hesitation. Another consideration weighed with us, and it was, that at this period of the season, as contra-distinguished from July and August, the pike frequently bite better at mid-day than near sun-rise and sun-set, which in those months are decidedly their principal times of feeding. My friend being an excellent troller, proposed to take a few casts just above our trimmers, chiefly to ascertain whether or not the fish were on the move; and as he got a run in less than a quarter of an hour, we resolved to let the lines. remain where they were for the rest of the day. While he was trolling, I amused myself by rigging out a perch-line on a principle similar to that which is used in eel-fishing. A long strong line is first taken with six loops in it, to which shorter lines are to be fixed. But as in the eel-line these loops are about five feet asunder, in the perch line they must be full twelve feet apart, and the line appended to each of them should be eighteen or twenty feet long instead of three feet as in the eel-line. The reasons are these: as the perch must be fished for with live baits and floats, if they were nearer together they would get foul; a greater length is also required for the perch to run home with his bait before he pouches it, which is not required with eels. I first saw this scheme practised by an old pensioner, who was a great frequenter of the Nene ten years ago, when I too passed the chief part of my summers there.

A killing mode of perch-fishing it is, and the best place to practice it is across a gravelly shoal where gudgeon abound, and which suddenly shelves off into deep water. Thus, near the margins of holes which the winter floods have made, or the course of the stream has worn in corners, and in other eddying places along its channel. With three, or at most four of these lines a man may ensure sport, if there are large perch in the water and the weather be favourable. The lines are to be looked at every half hour, or as often as the floats are well under.

We now took another survey of the trimmers, and found our boat peck to contain four brace of pike, of which the smallest was about four pounds weight, and there were three fish of about seven pounds each. We rebaited the hooks and sat down to dinner. and our fire "Those who

That over,

having been made up, I sallied forth in search of a bottle. hide can find," says the old proverb, and true it is, for I soon returned with a magnum of port, which I had not seen since July, 1834. I have always felt much pleasure in these hoards, and recommend those who frequent woods and rivers to possess a few cellars of a similar kind, but by no means to put all their eggs in one basket. Another thing too is worthy of note-to mark well and unequivocally under which particular tree, or in which cavity, the store is placed, for nothing is so easy at the distance of even a few months as to confound one tree or place with another, and to be unable to find the hidden treasures. I remember once being up the Nene duck-shooting, on a piercing cold day in January, and rejoicing the heart of my comrade with a glass of cogniac obtained from one of my secret crypts at a moment when it was almost worth a guinea a drop to him. To return, and to conclude this yarn: we finished our bottle and took up our trimmers for the last time; another brace of pike were taken, and of perch altogether three brace and a half-one fine fellow weighing four pounds. The lines in the deep clear water were upon the whole most successful, which indeed is always the case except in the middle of summer, when the weeds make an almost impervious shelter, in which the large fish delight to lie in ambush for their prey. Excepting the one large fish first taken, the dace were unsuccessful, another proof that from their sulkiness they are an inferior bait-fish to the roach. The smaller lot of bait-fish did but little good; which shows that although these in the early part of the season, when pike have just done spawning, and before they gorge well, may succeed best on trimmers, they will not at any other period allure a good fish to the hook. In short, the result of this day confirmed the experience of many years, that in the early and latter end of the season the deep water is best; the weed-beds and cut holes in the middle of summer; the shoal water always safe for a fish, and that there is no bait for a trimmer equal to a roach six inches long,

Peterborough.

N. W.

THE GODOLPHIN ARABIAN AND ECLIPSE.

MR. EDITOR,

As some few of your numerous readers may also take in the Old Magazine, I think it necessary to correct a misstatement or two which occurs in an article entitled "Annals of the British Turf," signed "Craven," in the number for September. The writer, speaking of the Godolphin Arabian, page 367, says, "this great forefather of all our best racing blood, was painted by George Stubbs, an artist of high reputation, and whose proficiency in anatomy, (a science of all others the most important to an animal painter), &c. &c; and after passing such an eulogium on the painter, proceeds to depreciate his abilities, by abusing the forms he has given to this celebrated stallion. Craven ought to have informed him-. self a little better on the subject, for I believe it is pretty generally known that Stubbs painted his portrait of the Godolphin Arabian from an inferior production, taken from the life, by some obscure artist, and is therefore not answerable for the "sour head, lop ears, tremendous neck, no chest, small weak arms, worse legs, a hollow back, vulgar quarters, and wretched bad thighs and hocks."

I think it probable that the portrait of the Godolphin Arabian was originally painted by a foreign artist, as it bears all that extravaganza of form which was then peculiar to our Continental neighbours, and which I. am sorry to say is not yet quite eradicated from amongst them. Craven afterwards, in page 370, proceeds to give an account of Eclipse, wherein he states that he (Eclipse) never could be raced as other horses upon whom jockies are put. Fitzpatrick, who rode him in almost all his races, never dared to hold him, or do more than sit quiet in his saddle."

Now, Mr. Editor, Eclipse was taken out of training in the year 1770, in which year he won ten prizes, and was advertized to cover the next season at Epsom, at fifty guineas a mare, and a guinea the groom, at which period, if Fitzpatrick was born he must have been too young to have ridden such a pulling horse as Eclipse. John Oakley was the person who jockied him in most, if not all his races. Oakley died an old man, about the year 1793 or 4; Fitzpatrick died a young man, about the year 1806.

From such misstatements as those noticed, it would seem that Craven's acquaintance with past events connected with the Turf, is pretty much on a par with his knowledge of the future; and that whether as historian or prophet he is entitled to the same degree of credit.

Yours,

BOGTROTTER.

Mr. EDITOR,

Danebury, near Stockbridge, Sept. 22.

I BEG to relate a curious circumstance that occurred to me on my return to this place on the 1st instant.

As the Herald, the coach by which I travelled, was descending the hill into Stockbridge, I saw a party of shooters in a piece of oats; one of them at the time was making his way up to a point, when a fine young bird rose, which the shooter missed, the bird flying directly towards the coach. I being seated on the roof immediately behind the coachman, tried to catch it with my hand, but failed, and in the attempt to do so struck the bird against the luggage on the roof, when it fell into the road to rise no more, and was picked up by the guard. Yours,

Ab. COOPER, R. A.

THE CATAPULTA-AN INSTRUMENT TO INSURE REGULAR BOWLING AT CRICKET.

SIR,

ALTHOUGH the season for cricket is now at a close, I am sure that I cannot do better than call the attention of your readers to an instrument for bowling, which has been invented, during the last cricketing season, by Mr. Felix, and given by him to that deserving servant of the Marylebone club, Caldecourt. It is a copy of the old Roman warlike engine called the Catapulta, and is regulated in such a manner as to give a player better practice than is possible to be obtained by hand bowling; and in this respect it would be invaluable to gentlemen in the country, who, however good batters they may be, cannot usually get good bowling to keep their hands in.

By means of a screw at the back, the machine may be made to throw the ball either slower than Lord Frederick Beauclerk's, or faster than Redgate's bowling. By another contrivance it can be made to pitch the ball any length, from a long hop to a toss; and it can also be directed to a certainty against any point or part of the wicket. It is however so simple and easy in its arrangement as to be managed even by a child, and yet it is so efficacious in its powers that it has bowled out every one who has opposed it, and among other distinguished players, Lord Grimstone, Hon. E. H. Grimstone, Hon. F. Ponsonby, Messrs. Ward, Felix, and Taylor, besides Pilch, Caldecourt, and Cobbett, The Catapulta only wants to be seen and known to be fully appreciated, and every club in the country would do well to send ten guineas and an order for one to William Caldecourt, Lord's Ground, Marylebone, by which their members will in future be certain of having first-rate bowling to exercise their abilities in wielding the bat.

A.

POINTERS.

Engraved by T. E. NICHOLSON, from a Painting by C. HAMILTON.

THE pointers in our engraving are portraits of a very fine brace, the property of a gentleman, for whom the picture has been painted by Mr. Hamilton. Nell, a liver-coloured bitch, is not less remarkable for the delicacy of her nose than for her powers of endurance, and her unflinching steadiness. Carlo, a white dog patched with brown, while he displays rather more dash than Nell, is scarcely inferior to her in those qualities that constitute an excellent pointer.

The situation in which the dogs are seen is illustrative of an incident which occurred when their owner, accompanied by a friend, was out shooting, in Sussex, in November last. The morning was unpropitious, and they found but little game; and what still further contributed to diminish their chance of sport, there was a cry of harriers on one side of them and a battue party on the other. Having but little hope of success where they were, they determined to change their beat. They accordingly left the cover; but on arriving at the outside they missed Nell, and after calling and whistling her for nearly ten minutes, they began to suspect that she might have gone over to the battue party. They therefore returned into the cover, and, after a few minutes' search, discovered her at point, near the foot of a beech tree, where it is not unlikely she had been-true to her object--from the time of her first being missed. Carlo, on perceiving her, immediately went up and then cautiously backed; the shooters, being satisfied that there was something before Nell worth waiting for, advanced towards her, when a splendid cock pheasant rose and was immediately knocked down-a prize entirely owing to the admirable steadiness of old Nell.

CURIOUS COINCIDENCE.

THAT we may for once grace our pages with a "curious coincidence," we give the following "good thing," which is not to be found either in Joe Miller or the Laird of Logan.

About "sixty years since," a half-witted fellow, called Jamie Jamieson, took his passage on board of a small sloop, Thomas Tomson master, from Alloa to Kirkaldy. The "bit shippy" was laden with "neeps" (turnips), and Jamie Jamieson had with him a cut-lugged sow. It being night, and the moon shining brightly, as they were sailing down the Forth, Jamie, on looking over the side, perceived the reflection of the sloop in the water, and, supposing it to be another vessel, he proceeded to make the

NO. LXXVIII.-VOL. XIII.

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